A Welcome Demand
by Prose Vanity
Summary: At five o'clock in the morning, Hotaru Imai received the greatest - and best, most heart-meltingly-romantic - surprise of her life. There were perks to being Ruka Nogi's girlfriend after all.


**Ashy-note **I originally planned this for Musings, but… err… some things happen and sometimes things don't go the way you thought they would go. Hee-hee. Forgive me! :D Enjoy, anyway. :P

Set before _Welcome Home_, age 20. Links to the photos of the jewelry mentioned in this fic will be posted on my profile page, just check it there if you want to know what the rings look like. (:

-:|:-

**A Welcome Demand  
><strong>Prose Vanity

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><p>He threw a color swatch at her table, interrupting her usual tinkering with another uncanny invention. This time it was in the shape of an eggplant.<p>

It struck her as completely un-Ruka-ish to just vent out like that out of nowhere at five in the morning. Especially inside her personal workspace, and also knowing that on any ordinary day Ruka would have woken up at seven or eight in the morning.

"So you're going to use plants now, Imai?" He rudely took another color swatch and threw it down again. She just stared at it before resuming to her work. Of course, again it was a surprise to her that he'd used her last name when she didn't even do anything to aggravate him—yet. She fixed him a stony stare, nonetheless, if only to annoy him more.

The irritation flicked into place and she went back to her piece.

Ruka felt really, really annoyed. Grabbing the huge stack of color swatches beside him he dropped it down ruthlessly on top of her invention. She gave a slight start and cursed under her breath before turning to face the irate blonde, but not before breathing one to ten. She had to calm down; she couldn't give him one of her rage episodes because, quite obviously, something was _up_, and she had to know.

She took one of the swatches and twisted it around her elegant fingers, staring amusedly (although, of course, being completely emotionless) at the boy who stood in front of her looking half-murderous, half-frustrated. Thinking it would be easier (and funnier) if she goads him into insanity rather than punishing him with a well-aimed shot of the baka gun, she opened her mouth to speak.

"I am supposed to kill you stone-dead for destroying that invention, Nogi, but I'm willing to let your little tantrum slip past my notice, under the condition that this half-ton color swatch bundle is actually _something_ I'm supposed to care about."

She gave him a very, _very _small and very, _very _sly, twisted smile while idly turning the piece of cardboard. She stared at the color in it and purred thoughtfully. "If I'm not mistaken," she mumbled on (more to herself than to Ruka, actually), "this is in the shade of blue iris."

Ruka stopped pacing around her workshop and looked around while she sat staring at the flustered young vet, observing. The first thing that drew her notice, of course, was his sky-like eyes.

_Dilated pupils, possible sign of internal mayhem, presumably a heart on a marathon; unfocused, _That was another weird thing on its own… after all, who gets a palpitating heart at five in the morning?

She stared at his hands next.

_Glistening with cold sweat. Nervous._

How he could possibly be nervous around his girlfriend at so early a time she also could not fathom.

Then the face.

_Handsome as always._ (She smirked at her thoughts despite herself.) _Twitching eyebrows, fixed jaw muscles. _

Then she saw a small bulge at the inner pocket of his suit. It was small, rectangular… she cocked her head ever so slightly in silent inquiry. He saw this gesture and none so subtly shoved the parcel away from her line of sight.

"Is that… a ring?" she said so softly, eyebrows contracted in wonder. She flicked her violet eyes at the agitated man who still hasn't stopped pacing madly.

Confusion became a whirlwind of theories. To her and her ever so perceptive senses, nothing went amiss, and this surely wasn't something she should take lightly.

Ruka was about to propose.

On a normal day she could have smiled. Or even laughed, maybe. Simply because the terror it was causing her boyfriend was just amusing to her. But somehow she couldn't even gather up enough strength to _react_, because on a normal day Ruka would _not _be doing something half as insane as what she thinks he's about to do.

He was going to propose to her.

This is not going to be easy.

Unknowingly her purple gaze widened as the shock finally hit her nervous system.

"Yes, yes, blue iris," said Ruka out of the blue, finally ceasing his maniacal walkathon and also causing her to wake up from the sudden shut-down of her senses. "Blue iris. The color of the year last year. A reflection of the times, an unusual shade that brings together the dependable aspect of blue, underscored by a strong, soul-searching purple cast. Emotionally anchoring and meditative with a touch of magic."

Mauve eyes seemed vaguely surprised at the sudden flow of information, and although she was still slightly miffed she still managed, almost automatically, throwing a slightly insulting remark. "Did you study colors at med school, Ruka?"

He seemed too absorbed in his thoughts to even register the hint of cynicism in her sentence. "No, it says so at the back of those damn color palettes," he answered detachedly.

She flipped the swatch she was holding and involuntarily, her eyebrow shot up. She was very impressed, Ruka had told her the details, word per word, exactly as it was written. He had _studied _the damn swatch. She could almost see it in her mind's eye how he had stared at the offending square piece of cardboard for hours on end, doing nothing but think and _focus_…

And Ruka did _not_ focus on something unless it was worth focusing. He was the lazy kind of genius, no matter how diligent he appeared. He wasn't best friends with Natsume without a reason. He wouldn't do this, unless…

Taking into account his psychological state and his body' reactions plus the box in his pocket, her fear heightened.

_A proposal…_

Collected as she was, she was beginning to feel the faint first signs of panic.

_I'm not ready for this!_

She turned resolutely (and a little too guiltily fast) toward the flustered boyfriend, and then, Hotaru Imai gasped out so loud it was almost as if it wasn't her.

And no one can blame her, because just as she turned around two birds fluttered into the room, each beak clasped strongly on the two shoulders of a beautifully-crafted pure white gown embedded by jewels that glistened in the exact shade of blue-slash-violet that she was holding in her hands.

"Ruka, what is this?" she asked warily; she didn't bother keeping away the note of slight hysteria and fear, as well as the hint of anger at the surprise. Because she was an organized mind—she did _not_ take well to surprises.

Of course, she knew perfectly what the hell everything was about.

Before Ruka gave her an answer his eagle, Tohru, came flying in through the open window clasping in his talons what looked like a crystalline diamond-studded tiara which the eagle dropped so subtly at her feet.

She didn't know what to feel—angry? Shocked? Scared? Excited? Miffed?

Maybe a little bit of all?

_The ring will come soon… the ring will come soon…_ she kept thinking to herself in hopes that maybe if she kept at it the effect on her emotional (and psychological) state would at least lessen.

When she looked again and saw Ruka holding a beautiful swing ring dressed in beautiful diamonds and sapphires, however, those efforts proved futile.

But somehow her logical side snapped awake and wondered why Ruka wasn't kneeling and she was relieved.

_Maybe he isn't proposing after all._

"I'm guessing this is another one of your illogical gifts?" she said in a frail voice, staring at the beautiful ring. It was gorgeous and elegant and just… she could not find words to describe it.

Ruka had always showered her with many trinkets as gifts, whether they be jewelries or mechanical pieces, but she had never known he'd go so far as giving her such a ring. It had a white band, and around it were several diamonds and sapphires that encircled the entire bodice of the band. Its cut was peculiar, rather odd but it only made the piece so much more beautiful…

Ruka smirked and she snapped out of her unconscious admiration of the ring. "Yeah. It's a gift."

He took the ring off the box (which, now she that she saw it, was the same size as the box she had seen in the inner pocket of his coat) and took her left hand in his, carefully and ever so gently putting it on her ring finger.

"Perfect," he sighed. He dropped the hand and she watched him still, noticing how the earlier signs of tremor had gone.

_It wasn't a proposal after all_, she thought, relief flooding her system.

But she spoke too soon.

"It's also a perfect compliment for this."

Without another moment for her to breathe, she watched as Ruka fell on one knee, holding another ring box, inside a brilliant ring of three gemstones: a huge sapphire flanked by two diamonds of roughly the same size. They glistened even in her dim workshop.

"I hope you take both rings," said Ruka shyly. His azure eyes, in the darkness of the room, looked to be almost the same color as the ring.

_How could I refuse?_ she thought. She turned around and clutched the back of her chair, trying to keep her emotions in check, but she couldn't. So she just let it be. After all, she was human. She was entitled to cry on his proposal.

The sun was slowly rising already, lifting the dark veil around the surroundings. She watched as the sky turned a pale shade of orange, listening, waiting for Ruka's words.

It was clear enough to her already, but it took some time before he was able to cough the words out, but what she heard wasn't exactly what she had anticipated. Maybe it even made her love him tenfolds more. No matter, the fact that he had taken so much effort to do this only proved to her that he was actually serious.

Because quite evidently, Ruka wanted to do things the right way .

"Hotaru Imai, I demand you to marry me."

She closed her eyes, and smiled silently before turning around to kiss him.

Well, maybe it was not as right as should have been. But it will have to do.

Because it wasn't right, it was just…

_Perfect_, she thought.

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